Opening and Welcome - President Colleen Coons
President Colleen thanked
- Dick Myren for offering the invocation
- Steve Ross for leading the Pledge of Allegiance
- Andy Bradford for serving as greeter
- Jeanie Morgan for handling sign-in
- Dick Myren for handling the raffle
- Ron Thompson for serving as Sgt at Arms
- Pam Cohen for filling in as Chief Technology Officer after Ed Koeneman's close encounter with his power sander rendered him temporarily disabled
- John Pennypacker for setting up the room
Introduction of Guests
- Masa was introduced as a Rotary Youth Exchange Student from Japan.
- Kassandra and Natalie from Westwood High School Interact Club were introduced.
- Margaux was introduced as a Rotary Youth Exchange Student from Belgium.
- Myla and Jazmine were introduced as members of the Westwood High School Interact Club
- Gerry Paulus was introduced as a soon-to-be member whose application is "in process."
- Dennis and Hada Rogers were visiting from Tempe South Rotary
- Shawn Buntin introduced his guest - his son Nick Buntin
- John Pennypacker introduced potential member, Diane Woods-Fowler
Ace of Clubs Raffle - Dick Myren
After explaining the raffle, Dick asked Jazmine to draw the winning ticket, which was held by Nick Buntin. Nick won $40 and the chance to try to draw the Ace of Clubs from the cards remaining in the deck. The card he drew was the King of Diamonds.
Happy Bucks - Ron Thompson - Sgt at Arms
- Penny May celebrated her grandson Peter and granddaughter Angelica's trip to Barcelona for a soccer tournament. They won their first game with Peter scoring two goals. They tied the second game, and sadly lost their third game.
- Gerry Paulis was happy to see Margaux. He and Liz were her first host parents.
- Tom Yuzer was happy to be wearing shorts - back home in Minnesota it was snowing.
- Brian Harvey was happy to see Chuck Flint in attendance.
- Eric Silverberg announced his daughter was getting married. Her shower was held at the Desert Botanical Garden.
- Harry Grossman went to the Cubs game by himself. He was surprised to see a familiar face. It was Bill Anderson who he had worked with 35 years ago at Carl Sandberg College.
- Jim McGown said Colleen asked him to help her get signed up to drive at the Mecham Auto Auction and mentor her. He learned that at one point in her life, Colleen was in Germany and spun out of control when driving the autobahn at 100+ mph in the rain - for which she received a ticket. At the auction, it had rained. there were puddles on the concrete. Colleen was driving a Camaro. She "lit it up" as she was approaching one of the puddles. The Camaro spun, and shuffled, but Colleen was able to recover. She texted Jim that she wants to drive all five days of the auction next year.
- Jim Schmidt contributed. His youngest daughter has a new baby boy. He was glad to have talked to Jim McMahan who was at the Cubs Game. They share the same Alma Mater. McMahan set 70 records while there playing football. Jim bragged that he was surprised to learn he was taller than McMahan and maybe in better shape...
- Ed Koeneman said his son was deployed for his first duty assignment. It's been a comedy of errors. He is in Poland, but wis supposed to be in Lithuania. The Army is trying to figure out how to get him to where he is supposed to be. In the meantime, he is sleeping in a closet near some air conditioning equipment.
- Ron Thompson was sorry he had to miss Spring Olympics, but glad someone else had a chance to win.
- Dennis Rogers is glad to be President-Elect of his club. He is visiting other clubs to help him prepare for running Tempe South. He said his broken neck is spoiling some of the fun.
- Pam Cohen was happy both Melodie and Chuck were at the meeting. She was thankful that Deb and Ed hosted the Spring Olympics and that the chickens and ducks were not involved in the competitions. She brought Tupperware to be claimed by members who had delivered food for Melodie and her family.
- John Pennypacker enjoyed Spring Olympics. He had a gift basket to auction off. Jim Erickson made the high bid of $110 which will benefit his team in the Sponsor Campaign.
- Warren Williamson told about the richest man in DeWitt County Illinois where Warren grew up. Lyle Butler was around 70 when the incident Warren recalled happened. Butler showed up at the local "fine dining" establishment with a beautiful young woman and introduced her as his new bride. One of Lyle's long time friends discreetly asked him how he had landed such a prize. Lyle said he had lied about his age. The friend said "there's no way she would believe you are close to her age." Lyle replied "I told her I was 95."
- Dick Myren contributed $2 happy that he and Rod Daniels are associated with the Ace of Clubs. He was also happy Chuck and Melodie were back. He fined himself saying he would have to leave early to pick his son up at the airport. He would be flying in from Boston. When asked by Ron, Dick reported Kaitlin would be playing on Saturday at noon. He added that the Iowa men's team had beat Kansas State 91/82.
- Colleen Coons was also glad Melodie and Chuck were at the meeting. She said Jim McGown was the best mentor ever, and that when she hit that puddle, she was the most scared ever. She said we would be touring the Mesa library May 30 and should be able to see the virtual augmented realty the Meta grant will have enabled us to provide for them. She thanked Gerry Paulus for organizing the Cubs game and said she hoped it would be an annual event. She showed a hand-made blanket made by Son Hee Williamson that will be auctioned. The bids will be taken on-line.
Paul Harris Recognition - John Pennypacker, Foundation Chair
- Joan Reimann was presented with her Paul Harris Plus Six recognition pin representing $7,000 in total giving to date to The Rotary Foundation.
- Ron Thompson received his Paul Harris Plus Seven pin representing $8,000 in total giving.
John announced that for any member who has not yet received their first Paul Harris Fellow, once they have contributed $500 to The Rotary Foundation, the club will transfer $500 in recognition points to enable them to get their first Paul Harris Fellow recognition pin.
Banner Presentations
- Masa presented a flag from his sponsor club in Japan to Pam
- Ed received a flag from Margaux's sponsor club in Belgium
Colleen acknowledged that Mesa West Rotary owes a Mesa West banner to each of them and committed to make sure that she gets them delivered before they have to head home.
Program - Youth Services - Ed Koeneman
Ed said that Mesa West Rotary has been very involved in Youth Exchange this year. Our own Donna Goetzenberger is the Youth Exchange Chair for our District. Machel Considine has served the district as inbound chair.
Margaux 's inbound exchange is sponsored by Mesa Rotary Club. Her first host family was Liz and Gerry Paulus. Ed and Deb Koeneman are her second host parents. Masa is sponsored by the Sun Lakes Rotary Club. Colleen and Dan Coons are his fourth host family. Mesa West is Olivia's sponsoring club. Her host families to date have been from the Gilbert Rotary Club. Carlotta is sponsored by Tempe South Rotary. Her first host family was the Koenemans. She is now with Bert Millett and his family. Frank and Amanda Rosenberg were host parents for Lotte.
Ed said Interact members think Rotary is Interact for old people.
Kassandra is currently President of the Westwood High School Interact Club. She also is serving as District Governor of the Interact District Council.
Natalie is Vice President of WHS Interact and serves as an Assistant Governor on the IDC.
Kassandra said that she joined Interact in her freshman year. Her older sister was a member. Kassandra said she used to be shy but she wanted to get out of her comfort zone. She definitely got that when she attended RYLA. She has been a RYLA volunteer ever since! She encourages others to get into Interact - the younger the better.
RYLA is an acronym for Rotary Youth Leadership Awards. It is a four-day experience in January in Prescott. It involves public speaking, leadership and team-building experiences. You meet international students
Myla said it changed her life. She was on "team Germany with Lotte." One exercise was supposed to simulate what it is like for exchange students when they first arrive. They learned some simple communications in jibberish then had to meet with others and attempt to communicate with them. They had learned a different form of jibberish. Communication was impossible and emotions flared.
Kassandra told about having to spontaneously tell a story about a dog house during her public speaking exercise really forced her out of her comfort zone and shy shell She said her decision to run for Interact President was born in that moment.
Junior RYLA is for middle school students and is held at a different camp near Prescott. Some of the Westwood Interact students at the meeting have volunteered to help at that camp and witness the transformative changes in the participants.
They talked about the Interact District Conference, saying it is kind of like a RYLA reunion. About 200 students from all over the district attend. At this year's RYLA which was held a few weeks ago, Kassandra was awarded a Paul Harris Fellow and was also honored by being named Interactor of the Year.
Myla and Jazmine are in their junior and sophomore years. and are up and coming leaders.
Jazmine said when she was at RYLA she was blindfolded and had to listen to directions to take a walk in the woods. She had to learn to listen and trust. She said that exercise got her out of her shell.
Masa said that Sweden and Japan did teamwork at RYLA together, saying they are good friends. He said they learned from each other and gained confidence.
Margaux said at first at RYLA some were yelling "Where am I - I want to go back." One of their first exercises was to make a costume for their mentor. She said her team's mentor became a french fry. She said the people on her team became good friends and still stay in touch with each other. She said when she first arrived on her exchange she had to get over some preconceptions. She has learned to appreciate American high schools. She is no longer afraid of the food and likes it here.
Masa said he thought he would spend a year eating hamburgers and hot dogs, which he likes. He loves baseball and enjoyed visiting the spring training Cubs game Rotary event. He said when he first arrived it was dry and hot. He loves this time of year. He said he didn't know before how hot it would be in the summer here.
A bit was explained about the Interact District's Crutches for Africa missions. They collect crutches, walkers, canes and wheelchairs to distribute in Kenya. Jim McMahen helps Ed transfer the devices to the storage facility. Kassandra was an ambassador on the Kenya trip last year. She learned that one person can make a difference. She said that lesson will stay with her forever. She wants to make change throughout her life.
Natalie said that it was super inspiring. In addition to the wheelchair distribution, they gave out supplies. Seeing how excited the students there were to receive the supplies made her realize how privileged she was. She also wants to continue to make change.
Jazmine will be going on a trip to Mexico this year to a facility where they repair wheelchairs. She said she applied for Crutches for Africa after she heard about it at club. At first, she didn't tell her mom. She was interviewed for Kenya but was selected for Mexico. The team meets on Sundays to prepare working to learn as much as possible about language, culture and history.
Natalie said Junior RYLA is run by Rotaractors. She said they don't know much and it was fun to see them learn how to treat each other.
Myla enjoyed being mentored by others at RYLA. She thought it would be a good experience to be the mentor. She applied to be a junior counselor at Junior RYLA.
Colleen wrapped things up saying we are preparing Rotary's future. She said she was looking around the room and seeing several future Rotaractors. She also declared Youth Exchange students are the bravest!